Decoding Arbitrum's Big Move: Can the Newly Launched Programming Environment Stylus Outperform EVM? - ChainCatcher

Source: Offchain Labs

Original compilation: Moni, Odaily Planet Daily

On February 7, the Arbitrum development team Offchain Labs announced that later this year they will launch the next generation programming environment Stylus for Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova. Stylus, through WebAssembly smart contract functionality, allows developers to deploy applications using their familiar programming languages (including Rust, C, and C++) to run alongside EVM programs on Arbitrum.

More importantly, Offchain Labs indicates that Stylus is an order of magnitude faster and can reduce costs while being fully interoperable with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, even calling it an upgraded version of the Ethereum Virtual Machine "EVM+". Can Stylus really surpass EVM?

Stylus: Beyond EVM Equivalence

With the release of the mainnet in August 2021, Arbitrum One becomes the only EVM equivalent Rollup with valid fraud proof, which means that what could be done on Layer 1 in the past can now be safely carried out on Layer 2, with faster speed and lower costs. EVM equivalence is essential for any general Rollup technology, and it also makes it possible for decentralized applications and protocol ecosystems on Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova to become more vibrant.

However, being equivalent to EVM is not the ultimate goal of Arbitrum, but the starting point. Arbitrum's technology has been equivalent to EVM from the beginning, but it was soon discovered that much more could be done. Therefore, Arbitrum has provided a 'paradigm definition' and called it 'EVM+'. The launch of Stylus is undoubtedly the first step in building this vision, and it is also a brand new stage in the development of Arbitrum - a general programming environment and WASM virtual machine.

For users of Stylus, deploying programs written in popular programming languages such as Rust, C, C++, etc. to Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova will become very convenient, and can run in parallel with existing Solidity dApps on the Arbitrum blockchain.

! [Arbitrum's Big Move: Can Stylus, a New Programming Environment, Surpass the EVM?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-fde2ed0229dd7b08be0e0585cea888a6)

The figure above: a program written in Rust language

From game development to social media, in the transition to Web3, Stylus can make the upgrade process easier, allowing developers to build on Arbitrum without even needing to understand the principles of Solidity programming language. They can also use the tools they already know and love, without having to consider the coding preferences of these tools.

For experienced Web3 developers, there is no longer a need to choose between Ethereum and other Layer 1 solutions. Whether seeking the traditional Solidity DeFi applications for a one-to-one experience with Ethereum, or the next generation Zk Rollup with zero-knowledge proof verification in Rust, Arbitrum can be one of the best choices.

This is because programs written in different languages can seamlessly combine, and contracts never need to know what language another person is using, let alone the user - so, everything speaks with the product.

Faster Dapp, lower fees

Stylus not only extends the way people write decentralized programs, but also optimizes performance, making program processing speed faster. With last year's Nitro upgrade, Arbitrum has seen a 10x performance improvement. With Stylus, performance will be further improved. Compared to decentralized applications written in languages such as Rust, or programs developed using Solidity and Vyper, Stylus is almost an order of magnitude faster.

Stylus can also significantly reduce transaction fees, ushering in a new era of high computational power blockchain applications in a wide range of fields. When combined with the data cost savings of Arbitrum Nova, decentralized games built on Stylus will be effectively supported. DeFi, DAO, and other crypto use cases will also receive efficient services on Arbitrum One, as Stylus is fully integrated into both Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova blockchains.

Low-cost computing can bring powerful program writing freedom to developers, which is actually one of the main reasons why the Ethereum community has been committed to accelerating the EVM, mainly involving:

1. Occasionally adding special smart contracts, known as precompiled;

2. It can effectively perform specific tasks such as calculating hashes.

With Stylus, users will be able to create their own precompilation:


AC Precompile

If a zero-knowledge proof team needs to build a new pairing curve, or an alt-Layer 1 bridge needs an unusual hash algorithm, they can simply deploy the encryption library as a custom precompile. Any cryptographic system, any reference implementation, as if it were the native SHA 2 of the EVM, Layer 3, or even machine learning applications can benefit from it.

For Ethereum researchers, the AC precompiled functionality of Stylus is very valuable as they can use Stylus to design and iterate EIP precompiles without having to set up their own testnet, and believe that the EVM will be pleased to see the crucial role Arbitrum plays in its development. Many of Arbitrum's breakthroughs are also consistent with eWASM, which is a Layer 1 plan to add WASM to the EVM.

) How to operate

In August 2022, Nitro upgraded changed Layer 2.

Arbitrum validators start running Ethereum's most popular execution client Geth and verify fraudulent behaviors in WebAssembly. Layer 2 is the first time in history to be able to run at the speed of a native blockchain, occasionally switching to the slower WASM, perhaps just to prove it's time to defeat potential attackers (rarely seen after the merge).

Stylus is the natural next step for Arbitrum's development. With Nitro, Arbitrum's fraud proofs can execute trusted WASM, validators must agree that Geth is an honest program and its behavior is appropriate. While this is a full foundation for permissionless EVM networks, it is also what Ethereum and all Geth-based Layer 2 solutions are currently doing, but scaling requires taking the next step: proving fraud against untrusted WASM.

In the Stylus model, users compile their programs into WASM, which is then converted on-chain into a format that is executed in a restricted and securely enforced manner. Through the WASM sandbox, Arbitrum can run user programs at close to native blockchain speeds, with the same security guarantees relied upon by web browsers to render web pages, ensuring that malicious programs will terminate in a way that can be proven on-chain without invoking the EVM.

When a transaction calls an EVM contract, Geth executes and returns the result. If the EVM contract happens to make a sub-call to a WASM program, Stylus will intervene and compute this part of the result.

EVM still exists, and will remain exactly the same as before. Stylus will not replace EVM, but will enhance EVM.

Everything Arbitrum does is fully scalable, which is why Stylus is also called "EVM+".